GOD is so good all of the time; all of the time GOD is so good! If you are a Christian, you know this to be true even through the times of suffering. In the past months I have shared the following Fruits of the Spirit:
January - Joy
February - Love
March - Peace April - Hope May - Faith June - Self Control July - Patience August - Perseverance
In September, the Fruit of the Spirit I will share is Kindness (generosity and open heartedness.)
I just want to thank You, LORD, for all of the visitors who have come to my blog. LORD GOD, bless them greatly with the leading of Your Holy Spirit.
Even the animals have to have perseverance! It is a shame that man's sin also brought down the animal kingdom! Survival of the fittest does not always apply when you look at all of the cattle/poultry that are killed daily to feed man. They are most fit indeed to sale, yet do not survive the slaughter by man to feed his appetite for survival.
Life is a run of perseverance. Endure no matter what comes your way whether it be emotional, physical, or spiritual. Almighty GOD in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit empowers His Elect to trust Him to do so.
Almighty GOD's perseverance has been from everlasting past through everlasting future! Unsaved man believes his life has a beginning and an end, or his end is some "blissful" place without GOD. Before creation, all that is past, present, not to mention future, has been in the LORD's mind from eternity past. "Before the world was (created) I knew you." (Ephesians 1:4.) Man has an eternal future, either with our Awesome Creator Savior GOD in the New heaven/earth or in eternal hell, the lake of fire, in everlasting agony, separated from GOD.
Let GOD's perseverance take you to His Eternal Kingdom. Don't allow yourself to go to an everlasting hell by rejecting His free gift of salvation in Jesus Christ.
Psalm 18:30, "As for GOD, His way is perfect; the WORD of the LORD is flawless." He expects perfection. Genesis 6:5, Man is fallen and "his heart is wicked all the time." Genesis 6:7, "It grieved GOD that He created man. But, Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD." Get this now! All mankind was so evil and wicked, GOD destroyed all mankind except for Noah and his family. GOD's perseverance will only last so long with evil and wicked man. Genesis 19 Man had again multiplied in their evil and wickedness. This chapter tells of the total destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah due to man's evil and wickedness. The LORD sent angels to lead Lot and his family out and away before GOD's wrath came down. GOD's perseverance will only last so long with evil and wicked man. Revelation is the final destruction on evil and wicked mankind by GOD. He has given His prophesy of the Tribulation in those days and they are quickly approaching. GOD's perseverance will only last so long with evil and wicked man.
Then Christ will descend with His Church for His millennial reign before all things are made new in the New Heavens, New Earth, and New Jerusalem! GOD's perseverance will have brought His Elect into Eternity with Him forevermore! Hallelujah! Amen! If you don't know our Almighty GOD, you can! Come to your Savior, Creator, GOD for the forgiveness of your sins by asking in your heart, His forgiveness of your sins. Read the Book of John and you will see the Love of our Perfect GOD for an imperfect mankind.
Matthew 5:44, Luke 6:27, 35 "Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you." Acts 7:55-60, speaks of Stephen's stoning for his testimony for Christ. As heaven opened up to him, he shared the glory he was seeing which only angered the crowd more! Even as he was dying he called out for the LORD to not hold their sin against them. How many people today would feel this way about their enemies?Perseverance even in the face of death! Pancreatic cancer...something no one wants to hear they have. My dad had exploratory surgery and the doctors just closed the incision giving him 4 months to live. He lived for 13 months in pain, agony, and emotional distress. His perseverance carried him to the end with a reward of joy that I'll never forget! The angels had been preparing us all. We would get peripheral vision of someone passing by going to his room, but turning to look we saw no one! We saw visitors who came, do the same thing and mom and I would just smile! The time came. He called for mom and me. The room was dark other than for a faint light from another room. He asked for us because his eyes no longer could see us. I touched his arm, mom touched his feet. Then Heaven opened up to him! The angels began descending as he counted, "Look out, here they come...one, two, three, look out!" He turned his head side to side as though they were going to fly into him! Continuing to count four, five, six seven...look out! Then total silence when he saw King Jesus! He was about to speak but the LORD sealed his lips. A sparkle came from dad's eyes as though they were reflecting the very glory of GOD! He let out a joyful squeal like a child in a crib does when mom comes in the room to take him in her arms! His head then rolled to the side and he passed from this world into eternity! Our LORD had removed my dad from the crib of this world into the very arms of our Awesome, Almighty, Creator, Savior, Holy Father GOD! His perseverance through the months of pain is now rewarded in the joy of heaven! Thank you LORD Jesus, for your sacrifice for my sins and the sins of all mankind! I pray for salvation to come to those who do not know you as their personal Savior GOD.
Has the trials and tribulations of this fallen life had you to seek out with perseverance, the salvation of our Almighty GOD in Jesus Christ?
Perseverance is not just emotional and physical, but is also (if not for most) spiritual! Ephesians 2:4-5, "Because of His great Love for us, GOD, Who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions (sins), it is by grace you have been saved." Man is spiritually dead until the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ "makes you alive" in Him. Accept His free gift of forgiveness of your sins, receiving eternal life and see what happens! Ephesians 2:8-9, "For it has been by grace you have been saved, through faith and not of yourselves; it is the gift of GOD, not by (your) works, so that no one can boast." Works have nothing to do with salvation. Our sins have been forgiven and Hebrews 8:12 says they "will be remembered no more." However, as Christians saved in Jesus Christ, works have to do with what we receive or lose of rewards when we stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ (only for Christians, 2 Corinthians 5:10). Our names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. The Lost will stand before Christ at the Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:11-12) where the Books will be opened to judge their sins before expelling them to the eternal Lake of Fire (where its flame does not go out and the worm doesn't die, Mark 9:48.) Those going there will forever be in the flames and will never burn up! Our present universe's Laws of Thermal Dynamics does not apply there! "The old things have passed away, behold all things are new!" (2 Corinthians 5:2), Not just for the saved, but also for the Lost. Christians, be empowered by the Holy Spirit to persevere the things of this fallen world and you will receive the Crown of Life in GOD's Eternal New Heaven and New Earth! A totally new experience that man's comprehension now cannot understand! (1 Corinthians 2:9)
Jeremiah 12;1, "Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?" Jeremiah 17:9, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" Jeremiah 20:20, "Those people denying GOD are never content with what they have or who they are; their greed drives them relentlessly."
Jeremiah 24:24, "For a while the wicked prosper, but then they wither like weeds, like the stalks of grain that have been cut down." Psalm 92:7, "All who do evil prosper, it is so that they can be eternally destroyed."
Mark 8:36, "What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul" to an eternal hell? The sin that occurs in prosperity is that it eventually turns to greed, especially those who refuse to recognize that it is Almighty GOD Who has allowed them to prosper. Those in the LORD who have been blessed to prosper need to use their prosperity for good and not greed. All the riches of this world will pass away. As I have said in past blogs, "The gold man kills others for now is the asphalt of the New Earth's roadways!" Psalm 23:5, "Riches disappear in the blink of an eye; wealth sprouts wings and flies off into the wild blue yonder!" Persevere! For the wicked's time is short. This present earthly life is but a blink of an eye, a vapor that briefly appears and then is gone (compared to eternity!) Psalm 39:5, James 4:14 Romans 8:6-7, "The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace. The sinful mind is hostile to GOD. It does not submit to GOD's Law, nor can it do so." Only salvation in Christ Jesus opens your eyes to Eternal life in Him! Fellow Christians, let us persevere with and for one another, loving one another. In doing so, we are doing the will of GOD. ( 1 Peter 1:22) So, the prosperity of this world is not the prosperity of Eternal Life with our Almighty GOD. For the things of this world will pass away (1 Corinthian 7:31), but life eternal with Christ will never pass away; as so the eternal suffering in the Lake of Fire for those who deny and turn their backs to the salvation in Christ Jesus offered to all. (Revelation 20:15, 21:8) Persevere, fellow Christians, for what awaits us is greater than any "riches" of this world or even anything we could imagine! The highest treasure of any man will be when we behold Jesus, Face to face!
Genesis 3:23, Pain and suffering is the result of the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. Psalm 51:5 shares man is conceived and born in sin. Romans 3:23, "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of GOD." Sin is why there is pain and suffering. The parents' sin is passed on to their children. We see this in the genetic codes and damaged chromosomes from parents passed on to their children. The susceptibility to diseases, deformities, brain damage, and early death is genetically reproduced. Then you have actions and behaviors that result in pain and suffering; sexual promiscuity, drunkenness, drug abuse, fornication......(Matthew 15:19) Persevere! Those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior can be healed or given His grace and mercy to persevere the pain and suffering of this fallen world. For we know in the resurrection we shall receive new bodies that will never know agony, pain, or suffering, again! (Revelation 21:4)
Matthew 19:17, Mark 10:18, Luke 18:19, Romans 3:12, "There is none good, but GOD." Romans 3:23, "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of GOD."
James 2:10, "Whoever breaks one commandment is guilty of breaking them all." No matter how "moral" one may be, only GOD is good. Psalm 143:2, Romans 3:10, 3:20 says there is no one good in this world compared to our Holy GOD! Isaiah 64:6, Our works (goodness) are as filthy rags to our Holy GOD. Galatians 2:16, Works makes no one good.
BAD
1 Peter 1:7, "Sorrow comes in order that the testing of your faith (being more precious than gold which perishes and yet is proved by fire) may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the re-appearing of Jesus Christ"
James 1:3, "The testing of your faith (through trials) produces perseverance." These testings can be "mild" or very severe. Our reactions to them is not only a testimony of our reliance on Almighty GOD, but also a testimony in faith to those who do not know GOD personally as their Savior. The Book of Job is all about this. He lost all of his family to death. He lost all of his possessions (and he had many!) He also lost his health to many diseases which came upon him. It was an all out attack by Satan. Job's perseverance and trust in Almighty GOD was rewarded by GOD with giving him more than he had before and even better health because he didn't give the devil the satisfaction of "cursing GOD." Our lives, whether by sickness and loss of health and possessions, are a testimony to the world of Jesus Christ's salvation in us. John 16:33, "In this world you have trials and sorrows, but I (Jesus Christ) have overcome the world." Because He did, we can too! Persevere! Salvation comes to many others from the trials we go through in this world due to our testimony of perseverance in our LORD. We may never know those who have come to Christ's salvation until we see them in heaven. So, the question in the title can be answered with, our suffering brings others to know Christ and His mercy, grace, and salvation for a fallen humanity. We can never imagine the suffering Christ Jesus went through on the cross; not just the physical pain, but what it must have felt like to take upon Himself all of the sins of the entire human race! Trillions upon quadrillions of sins from man's thoughts, words, and deeds from Adam and Eve to the last human being He will create! It is all recorded in "The Books" (Revelation 20:12). Be sure your name is recorded in "The Book of Life" by accepting Christ's gift of salvation for you! (Revelation 20:15)
James 1:2, "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial (of pain and suffering, whether physical or emotional) because when he has stood the test, he will receive the Crown of Life that GOD has promised to those who love Him."
Matthew 10:28, "Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear the One (Almighty GOD) Who can destroy both soul and body in hell!" This is not a one time destruction, but continues forever!
Revelation 2:10, "Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer...be faithful even unto the point of death and I (Jesus Christ) will give you the Crown of Life."
What is the Crown of Life?
1 Corinthians 2:9, "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered the heart of man what GOD has planned for those who love Him." John 14:2-3, "In My Father's house are many mansions...I go to prepare a place for you and will come and receive you unto Myself that where I Am you will be also." 2 Corinthians 5:1, "To be absent from the body is to be present with the LORD." What a promise Christians have in the LORD Jesus!
The Crown of Life is Eternal Life with our Awesome, Almighty, Creator, Savior, Holy Father GOD forevermore! In our now fallen state of mind, we cannot even begin to comprehend what that Eternal Life will encompass! In our lowly state, GOD has shared on our mind's level, the structures and foundations of the buildings: Revelation 21:21, speaks of the New Jerusalem on the New Earth as having, "streets of gold." Read Revelation 21 about the foundations and structures of the buildings being made out of jewels (rubies, emeralds, amethyst, ivory...) Just think, in this fallen world, man kills and murders for gold! There, gold will be the asphalt of the streets! Revelation 21:4, "He (Almighty GOD) will wipe every tear from our eyes. There will be no more death, mourning, crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away!" Persevere, my fellow Christians! James 1:22, NKJ version says, "Count it as joy when you meet with various trials of various kinds." Persevere, for what awaits those who are suffering has greater reward than those who don't suffer!
Hebrews 13:8, "Jesus is never changing. He's the same today, yesterday, tomorrow, and forever." Matthew 5:48, "Your Heavenly Father is perfect." Revelation 4:8, "Holy is the LORD GOD Almighty."
Man's Personality:
Numbers 23:19, "God is not a man that He should lie, nor a son of man that He should change His mind." Man lies and constantly changes his mind (then denies that he has!)
II Samuel 23:31, "GOD's way is perfect. The WORD of the LORD is flawless." Man by no means is perfect and flawless, therein the need for salvation! "There is a way which seems right unto a man, but its end is the way of death." (Proverbs 14:12) 1 Samuel 2:2, "No one is Holy like the LORD." No human being is Holy, only the LORD GOD. This is why man must allow the Holy Spirit to change man's heart through salvation in Jesus Who took the penalty for our sin upon Himself. We must persevere in our LORD GOD Almighty; think, do, and speak His WORD; our lives change as we grow in our unchanging GOD!
I Corinthians 2:16, "We (Christians) are to work at becoming more like Christ, growing to have the mind of Christ (led by His Holy Spirit.)" The wiles of the devil and the world hate this and brings condemnation upon the LORD's Church. (John 15:18-19) Persevere, for His angels assist us and He knows what we can persevere and will not allow more than we can bear. (1 Corinthians 10:13)
Our earthly existence is a classroom in the School of Life. We can pass our courses by following GOD's WORD, or we can be expelled to eternal hell for failing to receive His Truth. Each of us has the choice to accept or reject the work we have in preparation (with this earthly life.) GOD has you to make the final decision of passing or failing! So the excuse the world makes is, "If GOD is Loving, He wouldn't send people to hell." Your right, in two ways! 1. You make the choice in rejecting His free gift of salvation in Jesus taking the penalty of your sins upon Himself. 2. Almighty GOD is Just and hates sin, yet He was willing to take yours upon Himself on the cross. Even Satan, the devil, knows there's a hell and he trembles knowing his time is short before he is sent there for all eternity (with the Lost that reject Christ.) This can be found in James 2:19 and Revelation 12:12.
Persevere! Call upon the Name of the LORD and He will save you. (Acts 2:21) There is no greater harm that can come upon the LORD's Church, that there isn't an even greater reward given which He has promised to us in Eternity! (Matt. 10:28) Persevere!
Charles Stanley shares, "Look at trials in life not as a reason to quit, but as opportunities that can assist us in reaching goals." (In Touch magazine, 8/04/14)
Life is a classroom for learning. Follow the Teacher, the Man of Galilee (Jesus). He will teach you as you travel this path to glory with Him leading you through the twists and decisions of this life below. Persevere as you look forward to your graduation into His glorious Presence!
The fallen world teaches man to have "self esteem." The Bible calls it "pride." However, the WORD of GOD says, "Pride goes before the fall." (Proverbs 16:18) His WORD also tells us to "die to self." (Romans 6:4) The Church's Perseverance: the world is against GOD's church. (John 15:18) No wonder why the world has itself in the mess it's in! Wars and rumors of wars! (Matthew 24:6) Broken marriages if married at all; adulterers, fornicators, lascivious behaviors will be judged by GOD! (1 Corinthians 6:9) Greed, power hungry! (Mark 7:22) Drunkenness, addictions to alcohol, drugs, gambling! (Romans 13:13) Heinous murdering and crimes! (Revelation 21:8) "Wide is the road that leads to eternal hell in the Lake of Fire and many (if not most of mankind) that travel its path!" (Matthew 7:13) Life is a road of perseverance! Because we all are of the fallen nature (Romans 3:23) we can't let our emotions run our lives or it will only become worse. However, those who know Jesus Christ as their savior allow Him in the Holy Spirit to guide our emotions (and not we ourselves.) When we do this, we love GOD. When we love our neighbor as ourselves (James 2:8) He (the Holy Spirit) assists our perseverance to endure the trials of this world! Perseverance: Being a quadriplegic, the strength of Joni singing this song below was assisted by her loving husband having to push against her diaphragm in order for her to sing this song of the early settlers in America.
(Genesis 1:27) Just as we are made in the image of GOD the Father (we have personality), GOD the Son (we have flesh as did Jesus), and GOD the Holy Spirit (we have a spiritual nature), perseverance also deals with these diverse attributes of our being. 1. We must persevere with our personality and the personalities of others; joy/sadness, trust/fear, humble/prideful, helpful/harmful, and all other emotions. 2. We must persevere with the physical weaknesses and pains of this world; strength/weaknesses, health/sickness, life/death. 3. We must persevere with the spiritual nature. Spiritually dead/Spiritual alive, demons/angels, our spirit/the Holy Spirit. We will look at these in more detail this month.
